FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pre-determined time delay of continuous compressor operation. In the present invention, a compressor control system is locked out by anti-abuse circuitry after a predetermined demand is not satisfied. The circuitry will be reset automatically when the duty cycle has been normally satisfied. More specifically, the anti-abuse circuitry halts or prevents operation when the compressor control system is being operated inappropriately.
Many weekly rental houses in warm resort areas require large capacity air conditioning units. The renters often leave such units running with doors and windows open. (Since they are not paying the electric bill and human nature being what it is; they feel indifferent about energy conservation on vacation.) This is so prevalent that a device to restrict such wanton waste would be worthwhile. Most air conditioning units, properly installed, should cycle under thermostatic controls satisfying demand within an hour or so. If a timer is installed in a compressor control system, a continuous "overload" condition can be determined and the unit disabled.
Properly designed, sized and installed refrigeration, heating and air conditioning equipment is supposed to cycle "off" once the desired temperature is achieved. However, an otherwise normally operating refrigeration, heat pump or air conditioning system can be abused and waste large amount of electricity as a result. For example, in the hotel or vacation home rental business, patrons often are not aware of the expense of such waste. They regularly leave doors and windows open with the air conditioning system running. This results in the cooling equipment compressor running continuously. The thermostat will never be satisfied and since the compressor is running normally, routine electrical overload, pressure switches and restart timers will not prohibit such abuse. It would, therefore, be desirable to overcome this condition by monitoring the duty cycle of the compressor through timing of the thermostat demand for heating or cooling and provide means to disable this circuit when such condition occurs.
The prior art has not recognized this abuse based on thermostat demand. Instead, the function and purpose of the patents in the prior art has been to protect the mechanical and electrical parts of a refrigeration system for electrical disturbance, mechanical malfunction, and or adjust the capacity and or identify the cause of a malfunction of the equipment itself. The patents to Kadah (U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,049), Abe et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,375), Stewart (U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,892), and McIntosh (U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,866) all provide time delays to prevent restart of the compressor system. The Tsuchiyama et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,909) and Kuriyama et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,292) patents additionally provide various mechanical and electrical overload protection. The Anderson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,973) patent further provides a display indicating the probable cause of a malfunction. The Foye (U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,028), Holliday et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,590) and Jabami et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,827) patents provide for modulating the systems capacity according to the load and the Ferdelman patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,995) provides several operating modes. Davis et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,059) and Jerles (U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,166) both address the issue of outside temperature and limit system operation when it would be better to ventilate rather than cool. None of the noted patents address the abuse problem recognized by the present invention. In fact, a goal of the present invention is to provide a simple solution to this unaddressed problem.